Germans, Egyptians and Cotton Swabs!

So, my last week at my job. Am I sad? Sorrowful? Depressed? Perhaps a little wistful? Not really. Am I glad to get out of here? Yes, in a way. I'm glad to leave this stupid, pointless work. I'm glad to know that I won't be working for the evil, soul-destroying corporation. I'm glad that I won't have to trudge through countless pages of gibberish anymore...
But to be quite honest, I'm going to miss the people I've worked with. In spite of the trivial, meaningless, unnecessary work that I was forced to perform, those I worked with have made it bearable. They're a great bunch, and if anything they managed to keep me smiling all day. Although some would contend that's not a very hard task in itself!

Point is, I'm going to miss them.
I'm going to miss their silly little comments, their corny jokes, their little nicknames for each other, their names! I swear to God, just there a couple of guys passed my desk talking to each other. One was asking if the other had heard about the meeting this afternoon.
"Yeah, Chain Gang was telling me"
Hold on...Chain Gang?? Within this company, is a guy called Chain Gang. Chain Gang. Granted, I'm probably spelling it wrong and its supposed to be spelt something along the lines of Xyyinn Jyanggey or something. But however you spell it, it doesnt change the fact that sitting at a desk within a small cramped cubicle, up to his eyeballs in charts and graphs, with his little glasses perched on the end of his little nose, is a man called Chain Gang. *sigh*

Or then there are the Germans who work in the same office as me. Extremely tall fellows, I'm talking 7 feet tall maybe 8! Well, maybe not, but you get what I mean. Tall, straight men who march instead of walk. Who lift their knees above their chests when marching from cubicle to cubicle. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating there as well, but you get my drift. Straight backs, tucked in shirts, maximum efficiency. Rolf is the big boss and as everyone should know, the big boss should never smile! If something can be said seriously, why in the world would anyone choose to say it with a smile??!! NEVER!! We don't SMILE when there's work to be done!! PAH!! Let the wall FALL before I smile in the face of targets and deadlines... oh wait. It's been down since '89? Dammit! (If you don't know what I'm talking about, click here) Seriously though, I don't think he feels comfortable smiling. Still, that doesn't stop me smiling at him! And you know what? I think secretly, he really likes it. Its like a release of all this pent up energy when finally he has a valid reason to smile at someone. 'What did you want me to do?? SHE smiled at me!! I HAD to smile back!!' Olaf is quite the opposite. Always ready for a joke, always smiling, I actually think that sometimes he feels he may be betraying Rolf. Betraying the stereotype of the serious, efficient German. And you know, strangely enough his smile always disappears when he hears the strong, sturdy, purposeful march of Rolf coming down the hall! Ah, how they entertain me.

And what about the Egyptians? Now, there's a fun group! If something can be said with a smile and a joke, then WHY would someone make the rational choice to be serious? They laugh, they joke, they shout, they scream. Yes, they don't talk, they shout. And it's great! It brings life into the place! Hey! I haven't seen you in 3 minutes!! How have you been?? Hows everything?? Have a coffee! We'll get onto that report later!! Not to worry, Not to worry. There's still 10 minutes before the deadline. With God's help we'll get it done. Ah, I'm exaggerating here, they're extremely hard workers. But I think it's great how Arabs still keep a firm hold on formalities, on pleasantries. It's so important I think. Good manners are so important to me, and should be important to everyone. Unfortunately, it seems that many people are forgetting what it means to have manners [we'll leave that for another post!]. Among Arabs, it's normal to greet someone everytime you see them. No matter if you just saw them 5 minutes ago, and every 5 minutes for the past hour, you still acknowledge them! To pass someone without saying hi is a huge insult. I remember when I moved to Ireland, people used to think I was mentally retarded. I kept asking them how they were! 'Um, I'm still the same as when you asked me a half hour ago'. No work is too important that formalities can be cut out in order to get straight to the point, and if you ask me, that's the way it should be all over the world. I remember a story I read in a book called "Understanding Arabs" (check out a short review here) about an American nurse working in a hospital in Saudi. She called up an Arab doctor to ask a question and when he answered she got straight to the point. "Ahmed, I need to order more swabs, who should I call?" "Ok Miss Jones, but first tell me, how are you today?" How are you today! It's so simple, but many feel that in order to be perceived as professional, they must refrain from taking a personal interest in their workmates. How wrong they are. I know Rolf loves it when I ask him! :)